The odyssey of the Kerebuy hawk
Author: Earlybird-obi-wanTimeframe: Saga and beyondCharacters: OC’s and many canon appearancesGenre: adventureSummary: A series of short and long stories about two men on their odyssey to find their home.
Disclaimer: Star Wars is owned by G.L. and the mouse.

The odyssey of the Kerebuy hawk

Escape

Part 1

“In there Jesin and no questions. Auto-sequence el es one.”

With tears streaming down his face Jesin Fialka had been hurrying after his master Carli Espino when she had jumped with him through another closing blast-door. Sixteen years young and quite agile he was about to overtake her when he felt the strong left hand of his master on his shoulder, the snap-his of an activating lightsaber and the unwelcome sound of blasters firing. Only now he realised that he was near one of the open escape-pods on the auxiliary-bridge. He felt a sharp pain in his left side, slid to a stop and was stuffed without ceremony inside. The hatch closed immediately. He managed to get the crashwebbing in his hands but failed to secure it.
His left hand was already hurting after a blaster-hit had grazed the palm when he had made his escape from the bridge and began a competition with his left side for what was the most painful part. A muted roar indicated a thruster firing. He tumbled in the six-person pod and collided with his left leg against a seat when the escape-pod began to hurtle away from the doomed ship.
“Oww!” The hurting leg added now to the competition. But that competition was nothing compared to that going in Jesin’s mind. He was trying to shield and failing miserably. All the teachings during his years as an initiate and a padawan couldn’t prepare him for what he was feeling. That feeling had begun a few hours ago. What was happening to his friends?

- - -

“Messy you are putting us in a big mess,” Halfir Majeski mumbled to his astromech that was with him in the bubble shaped cockpit of the YT-1300 freighter. Anguish was showing in his hazel eyes and he was shaking his head with rather long red hair dancing every which way. The astromech had guided the freighter out of hyperspace near their destination. Halfir had bought a load of ore containing high amounts of precious metals on Mustafar and wanted to sell that to Jabba the Hutt.

Tweep ti wieep

“Yeah tootle an apology. We are now in the middle of one of those sepi repi battles.” Halfir had a small smile on his bearded face when he saw the colour-display of the combatants despite the anguish he was feeling. “Two striped rodi-fruit cruisers are engaging one big fat decaying donut. We have a Hutt down there and he is quite interested in our merchandise.”

In his long career as a merchant he had dealt frequently with the Hutts. Following the advice of his father to see more of the galaxy he left with his friend Ivano Arvedai on a transport to Alderaan. He had seen Ivano getting settled in Alladea where the firefighter had joined the city fire-department. He had applied for a job at one of the big offices and was told that he could get a desk-job only for the first two years.

But Halfir wanted more action, said goodbye to Ivano after the man had assured him that he wouldn’t get in that much trouble and would try to avoid hospitals. Ivano in Noranan general hospital and wanting to leave as soon as possible had been one of the main reasons to make plans to go and explore the galaxy. Exploring meant more planets to see than just Alderaan and he boarded the first transport leaving Alladea. That was a freighter bound for Corellia.

He liked to stay an independent merchant and used some of his Moniron credit-account to buy an old YT-1300 freighter in need of a lot of repairing only a few days after he had come to Corellia. And he was glad that he had studied – besides economics and trade – mechanics and had earned an engineering grade. He had modified the freighter adding shields and small weapons. With pirates and now the wars he ended up quite often in the middle of some trouble. And some of that trouble could be accredited to the astromech that came with the purchase of the freighter. Messy was an appropriate name for the astromech and maybe the reason that the freighter was kind of cheap. The colours of the freighter – black, where the paint had flaked off, brown, where more neglect in the appearance of rust was showing and some white, the original colour – had him naming it the Kerebuy hawk. He had restored the plating and had painted pictures of the bird on various parts.

Twirp wiieep

“I agree,” Halfir pointed with one finger to the display where red and white coloured Jedi-cruisers and a grey coloured droid-ship were to be seen. Remains of a second droid-ship were breaking up in more pieces. “We are not in the middle of their battle but we have to steer her away from that third cruiser.” He saw debris and bodies floating near what had been a bridge. “That’s dead in space and a waste of life.”

‘Use your shields Majeski, Eled-Non and you too Arvedai!’ That phrase said long ago by his teacher popped in his mind immediately when he saw a disfigured grey uniformed body drifting his way. ‘Ivano, Jihan and I were a lot of trouble for teacher Mozlin from the day we left kindergarten and came in his classroom. We had to learn it the hard way. And I was the most talented according to Mozlin who said that I could have been a Jedi. He told me about Jasir Ere-Dun and his sister Fay. She became a Jedi. Somehow I felt her death on Queyta. She saved millions by saving another Jedi.’ He tried to put his shields in place to mute the anguish. Many voices in the galaxy were silenced. Beings were becoming one with the eternity.

- - -

‘Use what you have learned to dull the pain. Use your shields.’ Jesin blinked a few times with his teary brow eyes and saw the other two Jedi cruisers now devoid of any Force signature firing at the remaining single Trade federation battleship. ‘Aurek pattern; Admiral Veers is at it again!’ He recognised the firing solution immediately. He had been seeing that a lot during previous encounters. And just as suddenly as the firing had started it ended. Was the ship disabled? Was the battle won?

Only a day ago he had seen Twi’lek Jedi master and general Carmine Elv’ans and Master Yorana Kowal and her padawan Lanei Setiquiyak during the briefing in the room of Admiral Veers. The three Jedi were gone; dead. He had felt their death. It was the beginning of anguish for Jesin who tried to use his lessons to shield. Only the lightning fast reaction of his master had saved him.

Master Carli Espino had seen Clone captain Old-tie reaching for the com on his wrist. A gruff face had turned blank after that message and was followed by a command ‘Jedi are traitors; kill them.’

Old-tie had levelled his blaster. Comrades had followed the command ‘fire’ with blaster-bolts coming to Jesin and his master. And with Carli feeling the evil intent she had leaped out of her captain’s chair and had deflected the bolts from the blaster-rifle towards the transparisteel window of the bridge. Cracks appearing in that window and a warning of imminent decompression had Carli and him hurrying to the blast door. The traitorous Old-tie and his comrades were no more but during their trek towards the auxiliary bridge more explosive decompressions followed when clones were firing. They all must have heard the same command.

“Master get out! Take an escape-pod. Why?” He saw for a moment an actinic blue light of a lightsaber cutting through a transparisteel window, decompressing the room where he had been moments ago. And with the bridge gone, Jesin knew what was to come. ‘She is trying to destroy all ships.’

“Messy you are putting us in a big mess,” Halfir Majeski mumbled to his astromech that was with him in the bubble shaped cockpit of the YT-1300 freighter.

That´s a good one, bird!

Messy will be featured prominently

Part 2

Pweep
“Messy what’s that?” An actinic blue light caught for a moment Halfir’s attention. But only for a moment when he felt the anguish battering at his shields. Shields were not enough. They crumbled when he felt the death of babies and small children. He started to cry. Even with his Dunai elder upbringing he couldn’t cope with the pain and despair he was now feeling. It rippled through his body. ‘It must be that Jedi sense. Why!’

Pwoot
That was a mournful sound from the astromech. Or was it?
“I know Messy, you cannot do anything and I neither. Beings are dieing here and all over the galaxy. Innocent children why? What have they done?” Halfir wiped his tearstained face and closed his eyes for a moment. He felt a very emotional male being quite near. ‘Alive? Is he a Dunai elder like me?’

Beeep pweep
“What is she doing? Get us out Messy.” Eyes snapping open Halfir gripped the controls of the ‘Kerebuy hawk’ planning frantically a random jump in hyperspace. ‘That Jedi has initiated the self-destruct sequence by exposing the control rooms to space.’ That much was clear to him when he saw the red and white cracks and expanding air escaping from the auxiliary bridge. Engines were flaring into brilliance and an entire section was beginning to expand. That sure was a sign that the reactor core was going critical.

“Those two are getting away.” Before Halfir could engage the hyperdrive he heard a loud thunk followed by more thunks and hisses.

Debris began to fill the space where moments before three Jedi cruisers had been. Two cruisers and a battleship had escaped. Reaching out with his senses he felt that the man was still alive. ‘He must be in an escape-pod.’ He saw the debris spinning around wildly until auxiliary thrusters fired.

Pwiieeeet
Messy had the thrusters under control.

PIII PI PII PI
Alarms started to blare. And there were more sounds when the freighter came to a stop.

- - -

“They got away,” Jesin mumbled when he saw the Jedi-cruiser of Admiral Veers entering hyperspace followed immediately by the second cruiser and the Trade federation battleship. Wracking sobs were rippling through his body. His master was dead. He was now alone in a debris riddled space and hurtling with that debris towards the planet. All was caught in the gravity-well.

A firing thruster had him on alert for just a fleeting moment and he remembered. ‘In there Jesin and no questions’ was followed by ‘Auto-sequence el es one’ and that had him on a course towards the planet that appeared now below him as a yellow and white dust-ball. He had to trust the programming of the escape-pod and hoped that it would deliver him to a safe landing where ever that might be. The anguish of a severed bond was now added to the pain of his body. He couldn’t shield and felt the death of Jedi everywhere.

- - -

‘Fire alarms!’ Halfir released his crashwebbing, reached for an evac-hood and turned on the air-supply after donning it. “Keep the Kerebuy hawk stable.” That command given he rushed through the corridor leading to the main part of the freighter. There, one of the main computers of the sensor-board had caught fire. And with the fire threatening the navigation board Halfir was in for a challenge.

More action is to follow but first the introduction of new, old and canon characters

Who is saving who?

Part 3

“Back to work Tonia?” Bernie Jaffe had been practising with his team of medics and was just passing the restaurant of the university hospital of Mos Eisley when he saw the attractive small brunette, a 16 year young student of his brother Rodney. One year ago the daughter of moisture farmers had come to the university hospital to study. He had been delighted when Rodney and his wife Dana told him and his wife Anna about the progress the student made. After only a year she could help in the ER-room. Anna had known. She was friends with Nora Egvards since childhood and had seen Tonia often when visiting the moisture farm. The girl was eager to get information about medicine studies from an early age. Anna had given Tom and Nora the advice to get their daughter to study at a university. Tom had taken that advice and had given his daughter the papers for the university and a key to a low rent apartment near the outskirts of Mos Eisley and next to the Eopie stable of Gerrik Smith, a childhood friend of him.

Tonia Egvards turned to the speaker with her face – that had still some marks of tears on it after seeing the holonews during her break in the restaurant – getting some smile, saw his dirty hands and the twinkling blue eyes so like her teacher Rodney and replied “yes, back to your little brother Rodney and his compatriot Irvin making my life in the ER quite interesting. It has been a quiet day up to now with no patient emergencies.”

“But a lot of teacher asking student question emergencies,” Bernie Jaffe raked through his short blonde spikes to send sand and dust flying every which way. He had to answer almost every week those questions when his brother came up with news gained from newsgroups.

“Irvin has come up with a new challenge,” Tonia could easily avoid that sand looking up to his towering height. Little brother Rodney was big too for Tonia. “We have ER two duty and ‘two’ means that I have to answer each question in two minutes. That counts for me as an emergency and...”

“Having fun with the Jaffe blondes?”

“I need that after the news on the holotube,” Tonia saw two hands – just as dirty as Bernie’s from the extricate-a-victim-from-a-wreck exercise – encircling her waist. “Tinco Derquin stop tickling me,” she squealed with laughter. “You are messing with my greens. Now I have to go through decontamination again and get new ones before I have to face Rodney and Irvin.” She was quite adept at self defence, had her left foot moving, took a left arm in her hand and had the satisfaction to see Tinco going down with a smile on his face. Now that she was dirty she could have some fun too even more when Bernie joined the fray of tickling Tinco. The curly haired man was their teacher in martial arts, stating that you could use it in a lawless town like Mos Eisley. But she hoped that Tinco’s brother – anaesthetist Kyle – didn’t hear the ruckus. Kyle was known for helping his ‘little’ brother using all means possible.

“Big bro is messing with my student.”

“He is helping Tonia. Black curly Bantha Tinco is the victim.”

“After my teacher in self defence has begun,” Tonia released Tinco from her strangle hold. It was a technique she had mastered only recently. “More lessons?”

“Get new greens after some showering and we will see about that,” Irvin Callis grinned with mischievous delight. He was the senior member of the team and had already grey hair. He pointed to the direction of the ER-rooms. “I want to see student Egvards as soon as possible back in ER-room two to answer more two minute questions. And you and you; get clean before the next emergency.”

Tonia did as ordered and ran to the scrub-room. She would be ready before Irvin arrived.

“Yes professor Callis,” Bernie spurted away before ‘professor Callis’ who disliked being called ‘professor’ had a reply.

“And I want to know why the news on the holotube had Tonia crying,” Tinco followed him.

“Must be that,” Bernie skidded to a halt before one of the screens to see a close up of supreme chancellor Palpatine and listened to the speech. It was a repeat as shown by the cams panning over the senate hall and focussing on Palpatine and switching to the view of the burning Jeditemple when Palpatine told about the treason. Clone troopers were shown.

“An empire? What is that creep doing?” Tinco shook his head. Tears were appearing in his eyes.

“Jedi are traitors? He must be wrong,” Bernie muttered, disbelief showing on his sad face.

“He is,” Irvin Callis had come to the two rescue workers intent on a reply but now forgetting that entirely when he saw a young teenager – brandishing a lightsaber in self defence and protecting a little child – being hit by multiple blasterbolts. Teenager and child crumbled in a heap. “Jedi cannot be traitors. My uncle was saved by a Jedi on Anaxes.”

“And we will help Jedi if they come here,” Bernie cried. The child he had seen murdered was as old as his daughter.

“We will,” Tinco said. “We have to get ready.” He and Irvin supported Bernie and walked with him to a changing room.

- - -

Jesin Fialka was stirring back to consciousness. There was a soft humming sound and it was coming nearer. Or was it in his head only? That head and more – his whole body – was hurting. Head, body and leg were having a fierce competition about hurting the most. The programming of the escape-pod had done its work. But a rough landing and collision with something unknown had him loosing consciousness for a time. He didn’t know how long. He had cried. Of that he was sure when he licked his parched lips tasting the salt of those tears.

Sure he had become aware of pain, heat, swirling dust and a choking feeling before sinking again into oblivion. And had he called for help? He didn’t know. His throat was parched. Was it dehydration? It was awfully hot. And that noise? Was that in his head? He didn’t remember banging his head against something. And no amount of Force use could relieve that. ‘But, do I want to use that with all Force users now being exterminated just like my master?’ That thought had him again in tears but not that many. The tears-supply was somehow diminishing.

‘Master Espino, you did all this to save me? I am here on a dust-ball in the middle of nowhere.’ He pried his eyes open. How long he had been there was unknown but he saw more. The swirling dust had settled but there were wildly spinning grey and silver points, giving him nausea. He felt his stomach churning and tried to vomit. But nothing came. He closed his eyes. And he knew that he was not alone. Or was he? Was he just hearing sounds in his head?

“Hello! Can you hear me? I will try to get you out.” ‘Not alone.’ A soft feminine voice was followed by scratching noise, increasing in strength. Jesin felt his leg shifting – bones were definitely broken now – and groaned and whimpered.

“Easy I have you out soon.”

Jesin opened his eyes in slits and closed them again when what he saw started to spin. He felt strong but gentle hands brushing against his arms and chest. All was hurting. “Oww!” a soft moan escaped from his cracked lips.

“It will hurt but I will have you soon safe and in my transport.”

“Owww!” Jesin felt the arms lifting him.

“Hang on. You are just like my brother Haro. He was a skinny kid too when he was fifteen or so.”

Jesin heard soft steps and the next thing he felt was the softplast material of a seat against his body.

“Easy now.”

“Oww” Jesin gasped and saw some swirling black and silver points before he lost consciousness.

Fwiieet twieeet pwiiit
“Messy shut up and help me. We are entering orbit and I will try to land us in one piece.” Halfir was hurting. His fight against the fire had him with burns on arms, legs and chest and most of his clothes charred and clinging to his skin when the sensor-board exploded. Bits and pieces were now wherever they had contacted with him embedded in muscles and more and causing more pain. But he had saved the navigational board and had rerouted some cables to get that board working but in need of more permanent repair. Also of concern was the power-supply management system, the gravity-flux compensators and the deflector system.

A stomach was rumbling. Cables from the kitchen unit had been used to repair the navigational board. And that meant no food and little to drink after the last cable was removed. Messy had been a great help and made that known by commenting on everything.

But hours of listening to a tootling and whirring astromech and unable to treat his cuts and burns – the medbay had been pierced from the outside by debris and had sealed hermetically – had Halfir on edge and deciding to land his freighter now as soon as possible in one of the landing berths of Mos Eisley on Tatooine. There he would seek medical aid first – no doubt surgery for the burns and bits and pieces – and after that getting the merchandise to Jabba the Hutt and credits – most to be used for repairs – in return. He hoped that ‘boss’ Jabba would treat him nice. He had a debt to the Hutt. The previous merchandise – Corusca gems and some works of art – had proved to be a fake.

- - -

“He is a Jedi.”

“A Jedi?”

Jesin shifted his hand to his lightsaber. He could do that blindly.

“He is and we don’t want a Jedi in the house. The soldiers of the empire will be merciless when they find him here. And he is injured and needs the care of doctors and a hospital. Get him in the airspeeder.” Jesin felt strong hands getting a gentle hold on his legs. No; this man wasn’t going to injure him but he had his hand now firmly curled around the lightsaber. It was his and he didn’t want it to be taken away with enemies everywhere.

“If you think it is safe.” That was the woman.

Jesin pried his eyes open saw a swirling place cluttered with tools and more.

“Beru, take him to a Mos Eisley hospital. He will be safe there. The town is a sanctuary for those wishing to avoid undue attention.”

“I will take him to University hospital. Tonia Egvards is studying there. She has no love for what the galaxy is becoming.”

“That’s the girl who doesn’t want to become a moisture farmer like her parents. The Jedi will be safe under her care.”

Jesin felt now another seat under his buttocks and rested his head against the back.

“Get going.”

Jesin had his hand sliding from his lightsaber and going to his nauseous belly.

“We don’t take that away from you but you have to hide it somewhere after I have brought you to Tonia.”

- - -

“Oww,” Halfir stirred back to consciousness when he felt some movement. The landing had been a disaster when the ragtag repair of the navigation board failed. The result had been a badly manageable freighter and when the power-supply management system called it quits the result had been a freighter dropping without warning to the surface.

What saved the freighter from total destruction was a failure of the landing skids to deploy, landing on a sand-dune and surfing down.

That landing had Halfir hitting his left arm against a console. He had heard bones breaking and had lost consciousness before the freighter skidded to a halt when the forward mandibles met a second sand-dune.

“What,” Halfir opened his eyes and saw a friendly face with a lime-green helmet. The man was dressed in white fatigues and was holding a probe light. That was shining briefly in his eyes.

“Tell me your name and birth-date.”

“Halfir Majeski, Welona two six four nine,” Halfir replied automatically. He had been in this kind of situations before. Most notably was the one in the public transport from Rondor to Noranan that had crashed. Ivano and his mentor Erdin had been among the crew to extricate him. He felt something sticky on his right hand and something cold in his veins and saw the eyes of the man getting big.

“That will be a tall tale to tell in Chalmun’s cantina. You don’t look like you are three-hundred and thirty one. I am Bernie Jaffe.”

“Nice to meet you Bernie Jaffe,” Halfir said. “I am in my prime years and have some five-hundred years to go before called an old man.”

“WOW! IV is running.” That was a different voice.

“Don’t worry Halfir Majeski. Tinco Derquin here will help me to fix a vacuum splint around your left arm after we have given you something for the pain.”

“No sleep,” Halfir moved his eyes from left to right eyeing the blue gloved hands. Two hands held a splint and another hand was holding a syringe.

“No sleep Halfir. This is a short acting painkiller just for getting the splint around your arm and you on the stretcher,” Bernie replied and injected the painkiller in the tap of the IV. “I am glad you are conscious. That way we can better examine you. Stay with us and we have you as soon as possible out of this wreck. During the ride to the hospital in Mos Eisley you can tell me all about how you managed to land this freighter without killing yourself.”

Dang, I almost missed a lot of Halfir´s adventures due to urgent RL events!

RL is important too

Part 5

‘I have to stay conscious. There is a disturbance and that’s not good. There is one coming.’ Halfir gasped when he was guided out of the rescue-transport and into the hall of the hospital by Bernie. The man and his colleague Tinco Derquin had told him everything about the new developments and ending of the war. Clone troopers were hunting Jedi. A diplomatic transport had landed somewhere. ‘Was there a Jedi aboard?’ that was what had Halfir worried and explained the military craft and troopers that he eyed with distrust.

“We are nearly there. You are doing great. The pain will be soon gone when Grady Rydell comes. He will put you under without you knowing that. Don’t worry. Tinco will head back immediately to your freighter.”

Halfir saw two white armour wearing men with their helmets held in their left hand and the right hand at ease on the blaster coming towards him. ‘I have seen those outside in space. Their brothers have turned on the Jedi. Are they now hunting for all gifted with the power of the Jedi? That will have me on their list of wanted persons too. I have seen Jedi before and felt their powers. And that’ he turned his head sideways ‘that was the being I sensed near and safe in an escape-pod when that cruiser destructed. They don’t get him. And they won’t get me.’

“Security check. Halt that stretcher!”

‘That’s not going to happen.’ Halfir directed his gaze to the shaven face of the soldier. ‘Now some mindcontrol and we are safe. I am looking forward to see Grady. Aww that pain! I have to hang on for a little time longer.’

- - -

Jesin was stirring back to consciousness. Being horizontal and not moving helped a bit against the nausea. He had slipped in and out of consciousness during the flight to Mos Eisley and had lost it again when Beru had put him on a hover-stretcher. But something was putting him on alert. He opened his eyes in slits to see the swirling shapes of two of the now dreaded clone troopers near a hover-stretcher that was guided by a white clad person. All was swirling. He closed his eyes. A soft voice caught his attention.

“You have not seen me.”

Jesin heard a stranger obviously in pain but somehow using the Force and the crisp reply.

“I have not seen you.”

‘Hey a Jedi here? And he is injured too.’ Jesin wondered who that Jedi was.

“I am just a humble freighter-pilot. Have a speedy recovery.”

‘Hey he is doing it again. Mindcontrol is easy with clones as opponents. I have done it when I wanted something from Old-tie and his brothers.’

“You are a humble freighter-pilot. Have a speedy recovery.”

“That boy and woman there are of no concern. They are farmers and simple pilots. Let them enter ER-room two.”

‘A farmer, no Master Jedi. I wasn’t assigned to the agricorps but became an apprentice and am studying to become a skilled pilot. Jedi Skywalker has shown me some tricks already. I didn’t feel his death. Maybe he and more Jedi are still alive and in hiding and maybe I will meet them soon. That master sure can help me.’

“Move that stretcher to ER-room two woman!”

Jesin heard again the monotone reply of the clone.

“Beru, get him here. My teacher Rodney Jaffe will take a look at his injuries.”

‘That is a kind voice.’ Jesin felt the hover-stretcher beginning to move and come to a stop inside a room smelling of bacta and antiseptics. He opened his eyes in slits. Brown and blue green were swirling mixed with pink and white.

“Tonia, I am glad to see you. I have found this boy in a crashed escape pod. And he is a Je…”

“I know and he knows.”

Jesin heard that voice coming from far away from the kind girl. But why? She was standing next to his side. Confused thoughts fired in his mind. ‘Hey that Jedi knows? Why don’t I remember his voice? Was he stationed on Ossus or was he one of the masters travelling the galaxy? It must be that ringing and hissing in my head. And those flashes when I open my eyes. I sure have a concussion. The hissing; it is becoming louder.’ Jesin lost consciousness.

- - -

‘Halfir Majeski is a good man saving that boy from those clones,’ Tinco Derquin thought when he hurried towards the large recovery vehicle that was being powered up by the pilot. ‘I will deliver his freighter to our friend Gerrik and make plans to keep that and them safe.’

Part 6“He has done all to keep you and him safe and we will do the same. Don’t worry. All of us here in this room have no love for the new empire. That is Bernie Jaffe. He is Rodney’s brother and stationed here with his rescue squad. He called twenty minutes ago that he was extricating that man from a wreck.”

Halfir heard the nice voice of Tonia and thought ‘a wreck, only the navigational boards quit helping the freighter after that devastating fire.’ He felt straps being removed. ‘Bernie has to get access to the remains of my clothes. He was in a hurry to get me to the hospital and strapped me to the stretcher. Geez, clothes can be removed with fluids to treat my burns. I hope he doesn’t use Bacta on me. And that boy, if he is a Dunai he will be in big trouble if Bacta is used.’ He blinked with his eyes and said “psst.” That had the medic bowing over to him. “I have an allergy to Bacta and the Jedi too.”

“Rodney; don’t use Bacta on your patient.”

Halfir gave a relieved sigh when he heard the loud voice of Bernie. That taken care of he turned his head to the woman – Beru – who had come in with the Jedi. He saw a kind face.

“You know a lot about that boy. I have to thank you for saving him and me.”

“I had to,” Halfir gripped Beru’s hand and continued in a soft but clear voice. “That Jedi-boy is related to my race. I felt Jedi dieing everywhere when I came out of hyperspace near my destination in the middle of a bunch of seperatist and republic ships. I was headed to Tatooine with a load of ore and became witness to the destruction of his Jedi-cruiser with parts of that cruiser hitting my freighter causing more mayhem. And it wasn’t the battle causing the destruction. That had ceased for some reason I don’t know. I saw an escape-pod blasting away and shortly after that a lightsaber cutting through a transparisteel window. That decompressed a part of the cruiser and was – after I saw a lot of bodies in space – the start of the destruction of the entire cruiser. I tried to repair my freighter ordering ‘Messy’ around.”

“Messy.”

Halfir saw the fleeting smile on the young face and he felt the sadness. ‘She must have seen the speech of Palpatine too. Bernie told me about that creep!’ He continued “Messy is my old astromech and helped me. We tried for hours but to no avail. I was forced to land on this planet and the freighter just quit helping me when I was nearing Mos Eisley.”

“And I saw your freighter going down and ordered my crew to go. Messy will be taken by my crew too.” Bernie had cut the last piece of trousers away and turned for a moment to Beru. “You can visit them but now we have to get busy.”

“Don’t worry Beru.”

Halfir gave a content sigh when he heard Tonia and saw her and Rodney disappearing with the stretcher with the Jedi through doors marked OT 2. Probing he felt no more presences of the dreaded white troopers. “Go home Beru. You can now leave the hospital. No one will bother you. Don’t worry about the boy and me.”

“Have a speedy recovery.”

Halfir felt a soft squeeze in his hand and saw her leaving the ER-room. “She will be safe and…”

“Your cargo too,” Bernie Jaffe began to guide the hover-stretcher towards doors marked OT 1. He wanted again to ensure his patient that all would be fine. “My crew will take care of it. Tinco will deliver your stuff to the stable of Gerrik Smith. He is a good friend of Tonia and us. We all like to get a ride on an Eopie from his stable. And if you need a place to hide; Gerrik is the man. He avoids all things military and has no love for those clones at all. His wife and daughter were killed in a freak accident.”

“I like to meet Gerrik,” Halfir saw the soft looks on Bernie’s face.

“You will and he will tell you more helping you.”

“My freighter can be repaired. It just needs a lot of wiring and more parts to repair the electronics.” Halfir saw doors opening and heard a hissing sound.

“Yes, you made a lousy touch down surfing over the sand dunes,” Bernie grinned. “We go to those dunes for some fun with wheeled vehicles or slide-boards. My crew will have your freighter secured. Gerrik has a large backyard. After your recovery you can help him and repair your freighter.” And sobering up he continued “you had to fight that fire or you wouldn’t have made it.”

“I tried to remember the lessons of my friend Ivano,” Halfir felt the stretcher coming to a stop and three pair of soft surfaced grapplers getting his body and legs. They were using specialised nurse-droids. “Next time I will don some gear to protect me after I have gotten that gear. But the evac-hood saved my lungs and eyes.” He heard some footsteps.

“That fire singed your beard,” Bernie turned for a moment to the newcomer. “We will have Halfir Masjeski soon on the table Grady.” He turned back to his patient. “Your sleep-doctor Grady Rydell is here. And Kyle Derquin – Tinco’s brother – is the sleep-doctor for the boy. You will see him or Grady in the recovery room when you wake up.”

Halfir saw a green clad man wearing a cap and clearplast facemask entering and nodding. And he felt Bernie supporting his head when the grapplers deposited him on the table. That was done very gently and he didn’t utter a grunt. The next thing he saw was a black mask coming towards his face.

“I am Grady Rydell and will put you under.”

“Halfir Majeski.” The mask stopped. “Before you sedate me I have to tell you that I can be quite difficult to wake if you don’t use Prop-A.”

“That’s what we use here for all patients,” Grady assured and began to guide the mask down. “Anything more I should know?”

“You have heard from Bernie that I didn’t eat or drink for the last twelve hours. I won’t soil the sheets after waking up. Don’t use Bacta, Kolto or whatever related to that gooey stuff on me and the boy in theatre two,” Halfir felt now the mask against his beard. “That tickles. Uh can you shave my beard?”

“I will and Irvin Callis will do the tidying up of the rest of your body,” Grady began to laugh when he saw the wink of an eye. “You have a remarkable control.”

“I can control the pain and I can tell you more after your colleagues have repaired me,” Halfir felt a fluid entering his vein. “And please put me in the same room as the patient in theatre two. I have saved him from the imps.”

“We will Halfir and just to assure you I and my colleagues here have no love for imps at all. Now you have to start counting.”

“Ah I see. I have to do some counting. You have no show for me. Sleepy guy Jago Amaral was two hundred and thirty four years and two hundred and thirty four days old when …” Halfir lost consciousness.

“WOW and he told me that he was born ages ago,” Bernie realised only now that Halfir was of a different species. “He is as old as Sluur the Hutt. I saw Sluur being introduced by Jabba as a guest of honour at the Boonta eve last year. Sluur was quite pleased at the comments on his age.”

Greg saw the smiling eyes of Bernie when he readied Halfir for the procedure. Bernie loved to go to the podraces with his family and had once saved Sluur the Hutt’s daughter.

Gah, due to RL I missed two updates AND a beard singed by fire. Always so much fun and action. One can really see that you are a Hawai-five-O fan!

Yes action and tense situations.

Part 7
Gerrik Smith was used to seeing all kinds of transports being parked in his backyard by customers wanting to take a ride on one of his Eopies but this was different. It was hoisted in by the large recovery vehicle of the first responder unit of the university and it was obviously a wreck because YT-1300’s didn’t land in his backyard at all.

“Where did you find this piece of junk Tinco?” Gerrik strutted towards the white clad medic who was directing his crew using a comlink.

“It surfed down the sand-dunes three hours ago and Bernie had us heading there to save the pilot and promised the pilot to keep it and the cargo safe,” Tinco Derquin replied. “That pilot was amazing. He could control his pain and he had those dreaded clones doing what he wished.”

“Plate covered goons; they killed my wife and Suzy landing the butt of that Lartie smack down on the speeder and were in a hurry to get away as soon as possible for more fighting in this dratted war now ended because it was a delusional madman inspired mayhem,” Gerrik grumbled with anguish showing on his face. “I guess you saw emperor Palpatine’s speech.”

“I did and I hope his reign will end soon. The pilot saved a young Jedi boy too. He and the boy could enter the ER-room without trouble. That boy was brought in by Beru Lars and in a bad shape, almost as bad as that pilot.” Tinco put the comlink near his mouth when he saw the freighter settling on its struts in the backyard and grapplers releasing their magnetic hold. His crew had been able to release the struts manually. “Take her back Jenny. I will catch a ride from Gerrik. Our shift has ended fifteen minutes ago.”

“OK. Don’t get too dusty.”

“I won’t. Chief Derquin out.” Tinco headed with Gerrik to the stables and passed a small building.

“That hut can be used if you need a place to hide the boy and the pilot.” Gerrik halted and opened the door to reveal a room filled with Eopie saddles and bins with food for the animals. “I have seen creep Palpatine declaring that all Jedi are traitors. And an empire; what’s that moron thinking? Wanting dominance over the entire galaxy with his white plated goons?”

“Don’t voice this aloud in public. We will wait until a group of rebels will rise. Tonia’s patients may be of great help.” Tinco followed Gerrik – after the man had taken one of the saddles – to a door at the rear that gave access to the stable where the soft grunts of eating Eopies were the only noise. He halted at the first stable to caress the soft snout of a sleepy eyed Eopie. “Lisa is getting old.”

“She is but I don’t want to bring her to the slaughter house. Maybe someone can give her a nice old day,” Gerrik began to saddle a tan coloured Eopie. Ten minutes later he saw with a smile on his face Tinco leaving. His friend would return after an hour or so but with an additional passenger and followed by a landspeeder. Tinco’s daughter loved to ride with her father. And mom would take the family home. Even with the recent loss of his wife and daughter he could take pleasure in life.

Thank you all and the Eopies will play a large part in coming adventures.

@Jade_eyes@Hazel@AzureAngel2

Part 8“I will stay with the Jedi-boy in the recovery room after getting this to medium care room seven,” Tonia Egvards picked up a bag. She had – after helping Rodney to cut away the clothes from the patient – put the only thing that remained intact – a belt – in that bag. After helping Rodney first to dress up and his two assistants, nurses Brene Hallin and Kyrin Peltier with their gloves she had been just a witness. The two nurses had left moments ago with Rodney soon to follow. And that amused Tonia. Rodney had to have his scrub-room fight after the successful procedure to set the bone without having to operate.

“That’s alright Tonia,” Kyle Derquin nodded. “I have him out of the sedation but he is unresponsive. Calling him ‘boy’ can have something to do with that. We don’t know his name.” He gave a signal to the droid-assistants to come with a bed.

“I intend to find out,” Tonia started to the double doors when a soft buzzing had her opening the bag. The buzzing came from one of the pouches attached to the belt. She opened it to reveal a comlink with a text-only message in basic and a sign identifying it as a Jed comlink. “There is a message on the comlink. All Jedi should go in hiding.” She showed the comlink and belt to her teacher.

“We will hide him,” Rodney took one look at the comlink, grabbed a scalpel from the tray and cut the braid with beads. “This is a Jedi thing. I have seen it on the holotube.” He began to wind a bandage around the head.

“Can we save the braid and his lightsaber for him?” Tonia saw more on the belt identifying it as belonging to the Jedi and pointed to a shiny cylindrical tube.

“The lightsaber can lead to his discovery by imps. The braid is the only thing that is easy to discard. Put the comlink and belt back in the bag and let the droids incinerate all his belongings.” Rodney began to help Kyle. “Tell Brene and Kyrin that there will be no scrub-room fight today.”

“Get going Tonia,” Kyle said. “I will see you tomorrow in recovery two. We will keep the two patients sleeping the whole night. We will be watching them. If imps come to the hospital we can issue hazmat warnings. Get some sleep first in room seven on the bed for guests.”

“I will and thanks,” Tonia left the OT after putting the braid in a pouch of her greens and giving the bag and clothes to a droid with instructions to treat it as hazardous material. Hazmat procedure would have the droid going to the large incinerator with capacities to destroy blasters and even bombs. Lightsaber and comlink would be reduced to unrecognisable molten bits and pieces. A few hours of sleep in medium care room seven was a great idea. Rodney, Kyle and Grady would keep the Jedi and Halfir safe.